Chapter 97 - Gathered, Unaware

Hanon looked at Teren as if he was a new species. It was like his worst nightmare was excited about eating at a popular cafe, no, it is actually what's happening. On top of that, he was the one paying for it!

But he didn't mind at all. If only treating Teren can gain his favor, Hanon would bring out all of the money in his wallet - card not included - to satisfy this devil.

"Wait, you would meet up with whom?"

Thinking back, Hanon found this suspicious. Teren has no obligation to answer it if does not have anything to do with him but he thinks that it deeply concerned the key students right now, namely, Eline, Josh, and the others.

'If only I have the guts to look into his future again...'

Hanon swallowed back his frustration while waiting for Teren to answer. He still has no idea what happened between this guy and the other students. In his test period, Teren didn't have any problems.

Actually, there is a problem... His score was abnormally higher than before. When Hanon checked it again, he saw that there was some cheating going on and the checker was none other than Iesa.

He was confused about the students' relationship but chose to ignore it as he thought-

'Teren must be thinking that I will turn a blind eye to this blatant cheating because he's technically the boss of my boss but no! I will turn a blind eye to this because I'm scared not because he's higher than me!'

Satisfied, he sneaked Teren's high scores into his records.

Back to reality, Teren answered Hanon's question without reserve.

"Hm, we planned camping together with my classmates. It was sudden... but it should be fun."

"W-who?"

Hanon already knew, remembering his vision.

'Does this mean, they were already falling into his hands from the start?'

He thought that Eline's group of friends have camped together and this devil just visited them. If that's the case, it must've been just Teren's whim. But from what he heard, it seems like it was Teren who organized this. It seems that Teren is more careful and serious about this than he thought.

In other words, Teren is like a bull already charging forward. Stopping him would be a lot harder than if he was just targeting his target and had yet to move.

"Mike's friends. I'm lucky to be invited by the popular kids." Teren said monotonously. But it was like a boom of thunder for Hanon.

Hope, that is the benefit of the doubt, was now gone. From this point onwards, things will be much harder.

"Oh, the food's here."

Teren excitedly clasped his hand. Although this was a cafe, it had various meals suited as lunch, albeit more expensive than the others. Just from their looks and smell, he was already satisfied.

But they were oblivious to the fact that a certain little sister was already sitting at the other side of the cafe, waiting for someone. This someone finally arrived and sat opposite this little sister.

"Sorry, I had a talk with someone and that's why I'm late."

Iesa scratched her head apologetically. In front of this younger girl, she was respectful.

"It's fine, even if we don't plan to meet, I'm still going to eat here anyway. This is my favorite cafe."

"The atmosphere and food here is great. Now, I understand why it's popular."

Iesa looked around and saw that there were people forming a line in front of the counter. They were like a curtain covering the other half of the cafe. If Seres wasn't there, Iesa wouldn't have anywhere to sit on.

Seres just nodded and went right into the topic.

"Yesterday, you've learned the different factions in this world, do you still remember?"

"The SSDA, the Five Big Gangs, the Aberrants, and the Condigns, right?"

"Correct, that's on the surface. There are others more but there's no need to learn them."

"Huh? Why?"

"Most of them are just supporting organizations that control the media, research Spirits, and even facilitates captured Aberrants or even rehabilitation, turning them into Condigns."

"Oh, so it's like they are not on the stage."

"Yes, some are part of the government, some working for any of the five gangs, some are unbiased services, and others... independent but still, they wouldn't be able to make a play with the SSDA and the five gangs controlling the field."

"Hm..."

Iesa was surprised by this information yesterday. But thinking about it, it's always been speculation about the existing factions that exist outside of the public's eyes. It must be them.

"Is it okay talking about Spirits here?"

"Yeah, people won't be able to relate this to anything. Unless we show them the powers of Spirits themselves, they wouldn't get anything and just go on with their lives."

"Okay..."

"So, is there anything you want to say?" Seres looked at Iesa with strange anticipation.

She didn't say 'ask' but instead 'say' which Iesa easily noticed. However, that doesn't mean she understands it. She still has tons of questions unanswered and she only gets to ask one after every session of talking with Seres.

On the first day, instead of a question, Iesa brought what Seres said up again - removing Teren's effect of Spirit on her.

On the second day, she then asked, "Who is Teren?"

Vague but Seres knew how exactly to satisfy Iesa's question. However, what Iesa didn't know is that Seres only told her about him being 'the Devil Himself' and how he is wanted after stealing so many Spirits and killing his own parents.

As for the third day, the present, Iesa had prepared her question.

Why me and is it related to how I can hear people's thoughts?

But since it was just the start of their discussion and Seres specifically asked what she wanted to 'say' Iesa thinks that she shouldn't ask this yet.

So what?

What does Seres want from her?

After thinking for a while, Iesa could only shake her head.

"Nothing...?"

Upon hearing this, Seres seemed to be a little disappointed but let it go.

"Then let's move to the next topic, I want you to know the most - The Spirit War."